WebSite X5 Review – why WebSite X5 is worthy of attention?
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How about building the most powerful website, offline? Surprised? Well, WebSite X5 Professional makes it possible; it’s among the market leaders and trendsetters when it comes to downloadable website building tools. If you want the latest features in your corporate website, blog or eStore WebSite X5 Professional is your best choice. You just need to install the program on your computer and then you are just 5 steps away from a wonderful functional and SEO friendly website.
WebSite X5 Professional generates web pages in HTML5 and CSS2.1 OR CSS3, based on your choices, and hence gives you complete control in terms of handling browser compatibility issues. Right from the simplest website to the most sophisticated web portals, WebSite X5 manages all your requirements. Here’s a sneak peak at some of the more eyeball-grabbing functionalities this tool delivers to you:
Online stores integrated with your credit card
Video and photo galleries
Built in search engine
Podcast and videocast enabled blogging
Multi language websites
Plus, it’s fully loaded with preset layouts, templates, royalty free images, menu generators, fonts, buttons, and widgets, so that you don’t have to look elsewhere while designing your website. This is one website builder that comes with scores of latest features and endless possibilities, whether you want to create an online portfolio, a company website, or a full blown ecommerce portal.
How to Create a Basic Website using WebSite X5 Professional?
Now that you’ve purchased and installed WebSite X5 Professional on your desktop, we’ll guide you through the basics of creating a website using it. Once you’re done filling in the license key, it’s all set. Just click on the Start button at top-right of the WebSite X5 interface.
You’re immediately greeted with the Project Selection screen. You can create a new project, or resume editing on a previous project from this screen. Hit Next when done.
We’re now at the business end of this experience, as you see the dashboard.
The left sidebar is the heart and soul of WebSite X5 Professional. It outlines 5 prominent steps of setting your website up. Let’s go through each one by one.
1. SETTINGS
This menu option is all about basic settings of your website project. In General tab, you can define details like website name, author, category, URL, description, language, icon and image.
From the Advanced tab option of the Settings menu, you can choose to add blogs, RSS feeds, Mobile apps, advertising messages, access managements, control panel, shopping carts and manage your website stats, SEO and codes. The construction process of your website begins after this step. Just hit Next to begin the creative process.
Some key notes on the host of options under Advanced panel:
All the WebSite X5 templates come with a blogging add-on. You can post one blog every now and then to remind the online communities of your presence. Posting blogs and maintaining the SEO ranking of a website has never been easier. WebSite X5 takes 360-degree care of quality, presentation and compatibility without any recurring expenses. You can always add the blog later, in case you are not sure about the content or topics suitable for your website. Even shopping carts and payment gateways can be defined later, in case you want to start off with a minimal company portfolio or a business website.
2. TEMPLATE
This section hands you all the template management options.
Selection
Whether you want to go for a readymade WebSite X5 template, an existing template from your library, or looking to create something novel, you’ve got all the options.
Do you want an online portfolio, a business website or a blog? Your choice of templates and plug-ins will depend upon the purpose of your website. Your company website needs to be prim and proper with a hint of professional integrity.
Let’s check out Default Template options.
You get to choose from among 500+ templates. The graphic templates are mobile friendly and have pre-designed graphics which make them the best friends of all newbie web designers. You can filter the templates from different categories including design, business, food and online store among the many.
Customization
Editing a template is just as easy. You can browse through the customization section to set your preferences for resolution and responsiveness of your website. Setting the resolution is very easy with WebSite X5, the perfect resolutions for the screen sizes are indicated in the main panel of the page. Simply select the option you see for mobiles, tablets or LCD screens. You can even modify the template structure from the same option. Drop Down Menu and Page Menu are some of the basic options for the customization. Editing the header and footer via from template customization option is extremely easy and quick. The drag and drop editor makes it convenient. Just drag and drop the header text box where your creativity guides you.
A note on WebSite X5 Professional’s templates – there are several top-notch templates to be used, and the best part is that none of these need to be paid for separately, as is often the case with several open source CMS and online website builder tools.
3. MAP
The WebSite X5 program is a wizard when it comes to organization and site mapping. For the amateur website designers it might be a little problematic to wrap their heads around the concepts of SiteMaps and SEO ranking on the very first project. If that’s the case, do not worry! WebSite X5 takes care of every bit to ensure that your website stays on top of the Search Engine Result Pages. In fact, after adding multiple pages and elements to your website the program automatically updates the index with the navigation menu so you can quickly move on to the next step.
The map shows the hierarchy of the pages in your website. The panel on the right comes with easy options for the addition of new pages and new levels. You can remove and rename the previously added pages through the Map option as well. The new level option allows you to add new pages or already existing pages under a new subhead to create subpages in an existing domain. For example, the Home Page can contain pages like About Us, Our Journey, Our Clients, Our Projects etc. this makes navigation extremely easy for the visitors of your website. Each time you make a change or add an element you can easily preview the same by hitting the Preview button right next to the Back and Next buttons on the topmost panel of the website editor.
4. PAGES
WebSite X5 brings about a revolutionary drag and drop visual editor which helps you compose incredibly designed, unique pages for your website. The ultimate drag and drop editor allows you to add images, text, animation, video and galleries to your website without any codes. You can also add search fields, product brochures and email forms to make your website more tech-friendly and in sync with tech-trends. The editor gives you immense opportunities to make your text user specific. The latest version allows easy selection of SEO H1, H2 and H6 tags to keep your website organized.
The page creation option is a wizard for all times. The right panel shows a number of options topped by the manage option. The main categories of the manage option let you manage the animations, buttons, data visualization, gallery, Google, images, slideshow, social options, translator and utility from one source.
From this option you can select the Main Page Contents which takes you to an interactive grid. You can input text boxes, image boxes, tables, gallery, video/audio, email form, animation, product catalog and dynamic content options to your main pages. You can add columns, rows and change the format of the same to suit your liking and necessity from the top panel of the Main Page option.
The text object can be edited by simply clicking on the text grid. You can add text, change the font, color and size from the Add Page option itself. After completing necessary changes just hit save and then preview. If you are happy with the results proceed to the next step with “OK”. For the images, click on the image grid and directly insert images from your PC or from the internet by providing the URL of the image. You can edit the properties of the image from the same options which includes title, links and alternative text.
Do not forget to fine tune your image by cropping, rotating or adding numerous other effects from the image editing options WebSite X5 has to offer. You can also add new filters, watermarks, frames and effects to add your signature to the images you use on your WebSite X5 website.
5. ANALYZE AND EXPROT
WebSite X5 comes with the best options for analyzing and exporting the website created. You can publish your ready website via FTP through WebSite X5’s FTP engine support. The 12-month web hosting service is included in the package to ensure than you have your own domain and web space. Click on the WebSite X5 project analysis feature to get a whiff of what you may be missing out before your website goes online.
The export to disk option lets you keep a copy of your published website on your computer. This is especially useful if you wish to keep a copy on CD, DVD and USB devices or make changes to the HTML pages before final publishing. You can convert the project to a .IWZIP file which can be transferred to another computer using the Import command in the Project Selection window of WebSite X5 website builder.
Why go for WebSite X5 Professional?
The sophistication of WebSite X5 Professional is more than clear from the range of options, sub-menus, and tabs layered under each of the 5 major menu buttons decked in the left sidebar. Apart from that, there are a few more noteworthy functionalities that put this tool into perspective.
WebSite X5 browser
Any professional website, at its core, has to use clean code that complies to standards, so that it shows up in the same manner on all web browsers. In this direction, WebSite X5 Professional has you covered, with its built-in browser. The Preview button of this tool lets you have a sneak peak at how the final version of the website will appear. This preview is generated using X5’s Chromium browser. What’s more, it updates the changes you make to your website in real time.
Built In Search Engine
WebSite X5 Professional’s search engine features makes it super easy for you to make your hefty websites easily searchable for users. You can add a search field for the header/footer of the template, and let the users search for the pages by putting in relevant search queries in the search box. These searches also heck through images, videos, product pages, which means that ecommerce portals will never lose on a sale because of the relevant product page being lost in the hundreds of web pages of the website.
Safe fonts and web fonts
At several places in WebSite X5 Professional, you can choose web fonts in the text editor. Not only can you use any fonts installed on your hard disk, but can also leverage the large list of web fonts right from the internet without the need to install them. Then, there are Google Fonts, synced from Google’s server. Of course, that’s up and above the safe fonts that are available on all devices.
Control Panel
The ease of administration management is a key parameter of how fruitful your experience with a website builder proves to be. And in this context, WebSite X5 Professional brings its control panel feature to you. Using this panel, admins can manage aspects such as moderation of comments on blog posts, replying to messages left by visitors in the Guestbook, and handling information and actions related to website diagnostics.
More about Website X5’s Different Options
The three X5 products on offer are WebSite X5 Professional 13, X5 Evolution 13, and X5 Start 13. All these versions include license for 2 PCs, a drag and drop builder, and 700,000 royalty free images. Apart from these, there’s unlimited websites license, FTP integration for online publication, and the ability to create clean code in HTML5 + CSS 2.1 or 3.
Check actual prices on WebSite X5
Whereas the basic Start 13 version allows 25 pages, 50 templates, and desktop sites, the numbers increase significantly with the Evolution and Professional versions, with Evolution X5 allowing 10,000 web pages, 500 templates, responsive website creation. Of course, X5 Professional includes all these, and a few more. Other X5 Professional 13 capabilities include store creation capabilities, plus free web space, domain and email for 1 year. Other WebSite X5 Professional 13 features include database integration, advanced SEO features, mobile app for web management, FeedReady app for blog news and notifications.
Another great news – WebSite X5 Evolution and Professional are available in the form of demo versions, so that you can have a feel of what awaits you before you make the purchase. Plus, when you compare the WebSite X5 Professional 13 with any of the well known online website builders, you can have your expense covered in 20 odd months, because it’s a one-time payment in contrast to a monthly subscription fees.
Conclusion
Offline website builders, arguably, have to make stronger cases than online website builders, because of having the aura of old-school about them. WebSite X5 Professional 13, however, does not give any reason for critics to raise eyebrows. Right from the jaw-dropping collection of templates, to the massive range of web page creation tools, there are reasons that make this builder anybody’s favorite, in a jiffy.
Unlike several CMS, WebSite X5 Professional 13 does not de[end on plugins for enhanced capabilities, which means that websites built using it do not stutter and lag because of the load of plugins. Then, serious web entrepreneurs will always find it hard to resist the amazing cost-benefits to be had out of this one-time investment, because there are no monthly subscription fees to fend against. Then, it scores well by ensuring that businessmen, hobbyists, and entrepreneurs using it don’t have to indulge in computer-language lessons, or have to hire developers to create and manage their web projects.
The DIY website creation market space is fiercely competitive, and it’s fair to say that lately, online website builders have been making strong statements, and making it tough for downloadable website builders. Where WebSite X5 Professional makes a strong case is, that not only is it suitable for people with specific needs of a website builder that’s available for use without internet connectivity, but also excels in terms of delivering high end and value adding features that help you create winning websites.
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